The mind games of cybercrime

Cybercrime is often more than just a demonstration of hacking skills. The attacker could be motivated by money, but equally by nationalism, a search for notoriety or revenge. The victim may be random and innocent, but he/she could have been singled out because of an emotional weak spot. Following the crime, other human emotions, such as guilt or shame, may prevent the attack from being disclosed.So when addressing cybercrime, we need to focus as much on psychology as on technology. As internet-enabled fraud reaches ever more alarming proportions, in the latest New Money Review podcast I interview Sarah Armstrong-Smith, author of a new book called “Understand the Cyber Attacker Mindset”.In the podcast, we cover:Why pandemics and war are great news for fraudstersThe amplification effect of social mediaHow disinformation campaigns drive polarisation in societyWhy nation-state hackers are well-resourced and focusedWhy cybercrime and fraud are the invisible crimeHow police forces are scrambling to catch up"Pig-butchering": blaming the victims of fraudSeeing frauds as human-to-human relationshipsBolstering our defences as organisations and individualsThe need for transparency about cyberattacksWhy sanctions are most effective at the individual level